Social Capital Partners appoints Matthew Mendelsohn as new CEO

November 29, 2023| News release

TORONTO, Nov. 29, 2023 –Social Capital Partners (SCP) today announced the appointment of Matthew Mendelsohn as its new CEO, effective January 2, 2024. Jon Shell, SCP’s current Managing Director will become SCP’s Chair.

Matthew is a Canadian public policy leader. For over 25 years, he has designed and implemented public policy solutions that work in practice and has advised governments, organizations and elected leaders on ways to improve economic, social and democratic outcomes. Matthew is a former deputy minister with the governments of Canada and Ontario, and was the founding Director of the Mowat Centre, a public policy think tank at the University of Toronto. Most recently he was a Visiting Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and a Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group.

“Matthew is the ideal leader for our new chapter as we pursue our next big ideas,” said Bill Young, Founder of SCP. “As SCP enters its next phase, we will focus on transformational public policy. Our goal is to drive changes that will confront wealth inequality, the thickening barriers to intergenerational mobility, and obstacles to asset ownership for many Canadians.”

In describing SCP’s next phase, Jon Shell, added: “Good public policy can expand opportunities for Canadians to own businesses, homes and assets. Canada can continue to deliver on its promise, but we must do more to combat the financialization of our economy and create more opportunities for Canadians and communities to build wealth.”

“I have long been a big admirer of SCP and its relentless focus on having a positive impact on the lives of Canadians through concrete action, focused investments and coalition building,” said Matthew. “Rising wealth inequality is corrosive to democratic societies and diminishes all of us. The Canadian dream must remain a realistic aspiration for more Canadians, and public policy needs to catch up to the structural realities of our economy. SCP can help drive this work.”

“Good public policy can expand opportunities for Canadians to own businesses, homes and assets. Canada can continue to deliver on its promise, but we must do more to combat the financialization of our economy and create more opportunities for Canadians and communities to build wealth.”

Share with a friend

Related reading

VideoThe Ownership Solution
A man speaks in front of newspaper headlines about investment and foreign takeovers, with the text Are foreign takeovers good for Canada’s economy? above him, as “is dominating” appears—highlighting topics explored in the Understanding Private Equity Webinar CAMP.

Watch the video: Are foreign takeovers good for Canada’s economy?

We all want more investment in Canada's economy. But as SCP Chair Jon Shell explains in this video, when it comes to foreign investment in the Canadian economy, or FDI, we have to ask: is it investment that builds? Or investment that buys? Because these are two very different things.

BlogNever 51
Leaders and delegates sit at a long table during an international summit, with country flags in the background. They appear focused and engaged in discussion, possibly addressing topics like employee ownership trusts FAQs, with documents and nameplates in front of them.

Mark Carney’s Davos speech is a manifesto for the world’s middle powers

Mark Carney's recent speech at Davos matters because it treats this moment as a rupture, not a passing disruption. It’s in this rethink, write Matthew Mendelsohn and Jon Shell, that there is also relief: “From the fracture, we can build something better, stronger and more just,” Carney said. “This is the task of the middle powers.” The world's middle powers are not powerless, but we have been acting as if we are, living within the lie of mutual benefit with our outsized and increasingly erratic neighbour. Without the U.S., the world's middle-power democracies are rich, powerful and principled enough that we can unite to advance human well-being, prosperity and progress.

BlogThe Ownership Solution
Three professionally dressed people walk together on a city sidewalk, smiling and talking about employee ownership trusts FAQs. One woman holds a notebook, another gestures while speaking, and the man carries a bag.

Four reasons our economy needs employee ownership now

Employee ownership offers a timely solution to some of Canada’s most pressing economic challenges, writes Deborah Aarts in Smith Business Insight. Evidence shows that when employees share ownership, businesses become more productive, innovative and resilient. Plus, beyond firm-level gains, employee ownership can help address the coming mass retirement of business owners, protect local economic sovereignty, boost national productivity and reduce wealth inequality. There is enough data about the brass-tacks benefits of employee ownership to sway even the most hardened skeptic.

Skip to content